Establishing a multidisciplinary taskforce to improve anticoagulation safety at a large health system.

Purpose: To describe the development of a multidisciplinary anticoagulant safety taskforce (ASTF) to address anticoagulation-related issues across the medication-use system.

Summary: Oral and parenteral anticoagulants have been classified as high-alert medications because of their potential for harm. Errors at the point of prescribing, monitoring, and administering therapy have been noted in safety literature.

Improving patient satisfaction through multidisciplinary performance improvement teams.

Hospitals today are challenged by high patient census, rising acuity, and workforce issues that can result in a serious decline in overall patient satisfaction. This article discusses how one hospital tackled the issue of declining patient satisfaction scores on five "troubled" patient care units through a performance improvement strategy that included MD-RN partnerships, co-mentoring, and unit staff development and involvement in the problem-solving process. The result was a steady improvement in patient satisfaction over a 6-month period.